Six years ago, Twinkies were on the edge of distinction. Every once in a while you might see a bald eagle with one in its beak. But it was rare, and the food (Food? Hmm. Maybe) was thisclose to disappearing like my waist line that it helped to destroy. Now the Twinkie is back and is branching out into meals you didn’t even know were possible: like breakfast. Post is partnering with Hostess (Maybe the greatest team-up since Dan and Shay) to turn the 90-year-old treat into a cereal. It will be available nationwide in late December. Twinkies cereal will “replicate the distinctive taste and familiar oblong shape” of the snack cake, according to the press release. Again, food is not mentioned. But the lab people who have given us this should not be disturbed or questioned while they create my dream meal.
Twinkies were created during the Great Depression, and helped bring us out of that Great Depression with cream-filled goodness. Some think it was because of economic expansion and the destruction of Europe, but I give Twinkies the credit by at least an 80/20 split. I’m no historian, but historians also haven’t studied the Twinkie like I have; up close and personal in my belly. So we can agree to disagree on the historical accuracy of my claim. Production went until 2012 when Hostess filed for bankruptcy and temporarily shuttered. Post and Hostess have already turned Donettes and Honey Buns into breakfast cereals, so this just the logical, and delicious, next step.
Shawn Dion (KRMD’s Senior Twinkie Correspondent)
